


Something Special

by telperion_15



Category: Primeval
Genre: Birthday Presents, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-05
Updated: 2012-05-05
Packaged: 2017-11-04 21:12:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/398255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/telperion_15/pseuds/telperion_15
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nick wants to get something special for a special person.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Something Special

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kez](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kez/gifts).



> Written as a birthday fic for kerry_louise, for the prompt 'Nick/Stephen, it's not the cost of the gift, it's the thought'.

  
Birthdays were not Nick Cutter’s forte. In fact, most people were lucky if he remembered the anniversary of their birth at all. And for those select few he did remember – well, a card was a rarity, and presents were about as common as snow in the desert.  
  
But this time it was different. Nick had carefully made a note in his diary about the forthcoming birthday, and he was determined to get a thoughtful and appropriate present.  
  
The fact that he didn’t have a clue what to buy was something of a spanner in the works, of course.  
  
He knew the recipient would tell him it didn’t matter. That a present wasn’t necessary. Or, if Nick _really_ wanted to buy something, then a bottle of whiskey would do. Or some practical bit of kit they needed for their next field trip.  
  
But Nick didn’t want to fall back on those well-worn ideas. He wanted to get something _special_.  
  
A month dwindled to a week dwindled to a few days, and Nick was starting to get desperate enough that he was actually contemplating asking colleagues for ideas. He suspected that Gladys in the Admissions Office might have one or two suggestions – she had rather a soft spot for the birthday boy – but he also knew that she’d hold the debt over him forever, or at least until she found some extremely _painful_ way of cashing it in.  
  
No, Gladys was very much a last resort, and Nick wasn’t _quite_ there yet.  
  
*~*~*~*~*  
  
The day before, Nick found himself down in one of the zoology building’s storerooms, commanded on pain of death by the dean to clear some space in it before Professor Hunt drowned in samples because he had nowhere else to store them but his office.  
  
Grumpily, Nick had complied, and had spent the last hour pulling boxes off shelves and moving them around. He wasn’t paying much attention to their contents, however, partly out of revenge on the dean (he almost wanted something to go missing, so he could gleefully blame the man later), and partly because he was still thinking about birthday presents, horribly aware that even if he did come up with a brilliant idea, it was probably too late now to get anything before the next day.  
  
He dragged the next box off a shelf, and once again read the label without really taking in the words. Until something in the back of his brain gave him a nudge and made him read it again.  
  
 _Bloxford Cliffs, Summer 2002._  
  
Nick remembered that trip, shepherding a bunch of undergraduates with only one assistant to help him – who had been a godsend, as it turned out. They’d found some interesting bits and pieces that summer, as he recalled…  
  
With a sudden flash of inspiration, Nick prised open the box.  
  
*~*~*~*~*  
  
“So, how was the seminar?” Stephen asked, not even bothering with a hello as he entered the office.  
  
“It was absolutely fine,” Nick replied loftily.  
  
Stephen took one look at him and burst out laughing. “They ran rings around you, didn’t they?”  
  
“They did not!”  
  
“Well, at any rate, I bet they were surprised to see you so early in the morning.”  
  
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” said Nick, not quite truthfully. Normally, Stephen took his Friday 9am seminar. In fact, normally, Stephen took any seminar that started before midday, since Nick was a) notoriously slow to get going in the morning, and b) even when he did get going, it usually took at least three cups of coffee before he was fit company for anyone other than Stephen, and neither of them thought it was fair to subject the students to a Professor Cutter who would a bear with a _very_ sore head a run for its money.  
  
But this morning, Nick had crept out of bed much, _much_ earlier than usual, leaving a note for Stephen and heading into the university to teach a group of – admittedly rather surprised – students.  
  
“Just because it’s your birthday, doesn’t mean I won’t fire you for insubordination,” Nick muttered, when Stephen chuckled again.  
  
“Many happy returns of the day to me then,” returned Stephen dryly, and headed towards his desk.  
  
Nick held his breath, wondering how long it would take Stephen to notice the small package and card next to his computer.  
  
Not very long, it appeared.  
  
“Hey, what’s this? Nick, you didn’t have to do this. A morning off is enough of a present.”  
  
“I wanted to,” Nick replied, standing up so he could walk over to Stephen. “I only found it yesterday, actually,” he confessed. “It’s not much, but I thought you might like it.”  
  
Stephen gave him a quizzical look, and then proceeded to tear the paper off the package and open the small box that was revealed.  
  
Nestled inside it, on a bed of tissue paper, was an almost perfectly formed – one of the most perfect Nick had ever seen, as a matter of fact – fossil ammonite.  
  
“I came across it downstairs in the storeroom,” Nick said. “Do you remember? You found it at Bloxford…”  
  
“…on our first field trip together,” Stephen finished for him. “Of course I do. I’ve often wondered where all those fossils went.”  
  
“Well, don’t ever tell him, but maybe it was a good job the dean forced me to have a sort out yesterday then,” said Nick.  
  
Stephen grinned, and then tipped the fossil out of the box so he could cradle it in his hands. “It’s just as perfect as I remember,” he said. “Thank you.”  
  
“I suppose it just made me remember how long we’ve known each other. And how lucky I am to have had you in my life all these years,” Nick said awkwardly. He felt himself blush when Stephen looked up at him.  
  
“You’re not the only lucky one around here,” Stephen murmured. He put the ammonite down carefully, and then pulled Nick into his arms. “Thank you,” he said again, a world of meaning in the words.  
  
“Happy birthday, Stephen.”


End file.
